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In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.


If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Venomous Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Venomous Words™ Not Venomous Words™
ABBREVIATED EXPANDED
BABYSITTER KIDNAPPER
BRAINTEASER RIDDLE
CROSSHATCHING COLORING
FABRICATE MANUFACTURE
INEBRIATED SOBER
OBITUARIES EULOGIES
OBSCENITIES NICETIES
STAINED-GLASS ARTWORK
SUBDIRECTORIES HIERARCHY
SUBORDINATE SUPERVISOR
SUBSISTENCE DELICIOUSNESS
WAINSCOTING PANELING
BIOSYNTHESIZING* BIOENGINEERING

* Exceedingly venomous

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Venomous Words™,Not Venomous Words™
ABBREVIATED,EXPANDED
BABYSITTER,KIDNAPPER
BRAINTEASER,RIDDLE
CROSSHATCHING,COLORING
FABRICATE,MANUFACTURE
INEBRIATED,SOBER
OBITUARIES,EULOGIES
OBSCENITIES,NICETIES
STAINED-GLASS,ARTWORK
SUBDIRECTORIES,HIERARCHY
SUBORDINATE,SUPERVISOR
SUBSISTENCE,DELICIOUSNESS
WAINSCOTING,PANELING
BIOSYNTHESIZING,BIOENGINEERING

The puzzle satisfies the series' inbuilt assumption, that each word can be tested for whether it is a Venomous Word™ without relying on the other words.
These are not the only examples of Venomous Words™; many more exist.

What is the special rule these words conform to?

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Yes! Another one :) $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 25, 2016 at 18:11
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Is hierarchy misspelled purposely? $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 9:36
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @JamesWebster Nope. It's either because spell check didn't catch it OR because my running spell check was just a fever dream and didn't actually happen. I'll fix it soon. Thanks. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 11:12

1 Answer 1

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The answer:

Venomous words have this property: you can remove letters and result in the letters B-I-T-E or S-T-I-N-G in order. BIOSYNTHESIZING can result in either of these two venom-related strings.

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